Menu
Forty Under 40

Forty Under 40: Julie Sobieski


JOE FARAONI / ESPN IMAGES
When ESPN President John Skipper took center stage to announce his network’s NBA deal in the fall of 2014, he especially was proud of some of the shinier bells-and-whistles that were part of the nine-year pact. Skipper made sure to hype the digital streaming and over-the-top rights that ESPN gained as part of the deal.

ESPN executives are quick to credit Julie Sobieski for making sure that the new agreement, which runs through 2025, ended up as future-proofed as possible.

Sobieski acts as ESPN’s quarterback, making sure to collect wish lists from all ESPN departments and adding the best target points to form the company’s negotiating strategy.

“Julie was instrumental every step of the way in developing and negotiating our NBA renewal, which is the most comprehensive, wide-ranging agreement in our business,” said John Wildhack, ESPN’s executive vice president of programming and production. “Her intellect, strategy, determination and uncanny ability to negotiate complicated deal points in a constructive and positive manner was critical to the overall success of that negotiation.”

Despite the work she does before and during negotiations, in many ways, Sobieski’s job starts when a deal is announced. She’s the point person for two of ESPN’s most important relationships: with the NBA and MLB. With no rights deals to hammer out for the foreseeable future (ESPN’s MLB deal runs through 2021), Sobieski, who’s been with the network since starting as an intern, works on keeping the lines of communication open with both of those leagues. That’s no small task given the size of the leagues.

“Every relationship is making sure that the other party understands it,” she said. “This is about us both achieving our objectives. In order to do that, we need to understand what’s important to both of us, where we’re out of bounds and what’s off the table.”

— John Ourand

Julie Sobieski

ESPN | VP, League Sports Programming
Age: 38
Where born: Middletown, Conn.
Education: Springfield College (B.S.)
Family: Husband, Bill; children, Matthew (9), Andrew (8), Taylor (4)

Advice I’d give to my younger self: Be present.
2016 will be a good year if: Golden State wins 72.
Person in the industry I’d like to meet: Mark

Zuckerberg.
I’d like to change jobs for a day with: Bob Baffert.
Groups supported: American Heart Association; Cystic Fibrosis Foundation; my church.
Most thrilling/adventurous thing I’ve done: Swim with dolphins.
You’d be surprised to know: I wanted to coach a college equestrian team.

SBJ Morning Buzzcast: March 18, 2024

Sports Business Awards nominees unveiled; NWSL's historic opening weekend and takeaways from CFP deal

ESPN’s Jay Bilas, BTN’s Meghan McKeown, and a deep dive into AppleTV+’s The Dynasty

On this week’s Sports Media Podcast from the New York Post and Sports Business Journal, ESPN’s Jay Bilas talks all things NCAA. Big Ten Network’s Meghan McKeown shares her insight into the Caitlin Clark craze. The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn chats all things Bean Town. And SBJ’s Xavier Hunter drops in to share his findings on how the NWSL is making a social media push.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SBJ I Factor: Nana-Yaw Asamoah

SBJ I Factor features an interview with AMB Sports and Entertainment Chief Commercial Office Nana-Yaw Asamoah. Asamoah, who moved over to AMBSE last year after 14 years at the NFL, talks with SBJ’s Ben Fischer about how his role model parents and older sisters pushed him to shrive, how the power of lifelong learning fuels successful people, and why AMBSE was an opportunity he could not pass up. Asamoah is 2021 SBJ Forty Under 40 honoree. SBJ I Factor is a monthly podcast offering interviews with sports executives who have been recipients of one of the magazine’s awards.

Shareable URL copied to clipboard!

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2016/04/04/Forty-Under-40/Julie-Sobieski.aspx

Sorry, something went wrong with the copy but here is the link for you.

https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Journal/Issues/2016/04/04/Forty-Under-40/Julie-Sobieski.aspx

CLOSE